Monday, July 23, 2012

If it isn’t, it should be! This incredibly delicious
sandwich, invented in central New York by an Italian immigrant named Camillo Iacovelli, breaks all the accepted rules regarding marinating meats, and not
only does it work, it’s amazing!

You’ve heard me say on many occasions to be careful when
soaking chicken in an acid marinade.
Usually an hour or two is the maximum I recommend, otherwise the meat
will actually “cook” in the liquid, much like fish in a ceviche. Here, that’s
exactly the idea.

You could almost call this twiced-cooked chicken, except
that the food nerds would come out of the woodwork to remind us the meat
doesn’t “cook” in the marinade, it becomes “denatured.” Whatever, nerds. All I know is when you grill that "over-marinaded" chicken over a hot, charcoal fire, some serious magic happens.

The term "spiedie" (SPEE-dee) comes from “spiedo,”
the Italian word for spit, and simply refers to meat grilled on a skewer. The
original protein was lamb, which explains all the mint and garlic in the
marinade, which Iacovelli called, “zuzu.”

As I hope you find out, “zuzu” is also wonderful with
chicken, and there are hundreds of credible reports of it being fantastic on pork,
beef, and venison also. Yes, one taste and I think you’ll understand why this is so
incredibly popular in and around Binghamton, NY.

The only mystery is why hasn’t this spread across the
country? Seems like a natural. It’s got a great back story, catchy name, lots of
room for local adaptations, and a marinade called “zuzu.” Come on, what more do
you need? Anyway, every new sandwich trend begins with a single bun, or
something like that, so I hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!

It is interesting that New York's other noteworthy grilled chicken recipe, Cornell chicken, also uses a long vinegar marinade. While the Cornell sauce originally started just as a basting sauce it evolved into a marinade with yummier results.

I happened to have almost every ingredient lying around, so I started marinating this last night and I just finished eating it. It totally rocked my world. I made shish kebabs instead to use up some pepper, but it was still delicious. Thanks!

You can find Spiedie marinade in some supermarkets, although the distribution is pretty random. We had it in central-state New York (obviously), but not in Boston. Recently relocated to Charleston, SC and we have it here too.

Spiedies! Yeah! I was introduced to these by my Binghamton cousins when I was a kid, and I've been trying to convert the world to spiedies ever since. Our family used the spiedie sauce on just about any kind of meat: chicken, beef, pork, lamb -- even venison. It's all good!

The weather in Germany is finally nice enough to grill outside, so I decided to make this as soon as you posted the video. Turned out really delicious and my family loved it. Thanks for all your great recipes.

I have a friend that worked there as a teenager. He buys the marinade from them online. It's a little pricey once shipped, but if you are using alot it's not that bad as it's sold by the gallon. That said, I make my own from an old recipe I found. It tastes better and doesn't have HFCS in it.

He introduced a large group of us to Speidies several years ago, and has been cooking them for us at festivals every since. We've had chicken of course, pork loin, pork tender loin, beef sirloin, beef tender loin (that was a crazy night...) and venison. Always a huge hit and a great way to cook for lots of people. I think my recipe from an old regional cookbook is different than yours though, not much, but a little.

I found my old (1994, not that old)cookbook with the recipe and wanted to share it here. It's in a local rural cook book from Mannington NJ. Lots of Farms there, and lots of hunting. Once I was introduced to speidi's, I realized there was a recipe for the venison version in this book. It follow:1 cup vegetable oil2/3 cup cider vinegar2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce1/2 medium onion finely chopped1/2 tsp salt1/2 tsp sugar1/2 tsp dried basil1/2 tsp dried marjoram1/2 tsp dried rosemary2.5 lbs of meatMarinate for 24 hours

I have seen many versions of the marinade for different meats. I have used this on sirloin and chicken and it was a huge hit. I had 5 separate requests days after the party... they were still thinking about how good it was.

I was born in Binghamton and my Mom use to fix these every Easter. We always had lamb. It was so great. Now I am going to try on chicken. We always used hot dog buns. I might even go to the spiedie feat in August .

When my brother was in town visiting he made us this recipe... he hesitated to make it because we professed to only liking pork, because chicken is so often prepared and very dry and boring tasting in our opinion, but he made it anyway, and we really enjoyed... so now I am buying chicken again to enjoy this recipe during the bbq summer months ahead :) we used red wine vinegar!

Just got back from a trip across NY for work...had this in Syracuse. Funny thing, I asked a few people in Buffalo if the ever heard of the chicken Spiedie...no one knows! I thought that was curiously interesting, thought I'd share. The don't know what they're missing. Thanks Chef.

Tried these last night after marinating for over 24 hours. Put them on the gas grill (which took longer than a charcoal grill-go figure...maybe the 30 degree weather outside??) They were great the first night but even better tonight when we ate the leftovers? I think it's true what they say...anything grilled is better the 2nd day...still moist and delicious! Even my 10 year old asked for 2nds both days...